


Follow That Unicorn

by adaptation



Series: The Penny/Parker Canon Chronicles [9]
Category: VH - A Harry Potter Roleplay Site
Genre: Alumni life, F/M, Gen, Pregnancy, The Irish Rovers, Theology, VH44 (2045-2046), family life, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 13:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4480091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adaptation/pseuds/adaptation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evan was seated at the kitchen table, hunched over his homework and making a weird face - he might have been trying for a glare - at his sister. Lydia, almost four, was sitting on the tiled floor, clutching the family cat under one arm like a rag doll.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Follow That Unicorn

“ _There were green alligators and long-necked geese, some humpty-back camels and some chimpanzees, some rats and cats and ele_ -”  
  
“It’s  _cats and rats_ , Evan, not  _rats and cats_.  _Moooom._ ”  
  
Penny sighed and looked up from her cutting board, her knife-wielding hand stilling so she didn’t accidentally chop off her finger while she dealt with her children. Evan was seated at the kitchen table, hunched over his homework and making a weird face - he might have been trying for a glare - at his sister. Lydia, almost four, was sitting on the tiled floor, clutching the family cat under one arm like a rag doll.   
  
“Evan, Lydia’s right. It’s  _cats and rats_. And Lydia, stop strangling the cat.”  
  
“Yeah, Lydia, stop strangling Zelda.”   
  
“Shut up, Evan! Zelda loves me!”  
  
“Doesn’t mean she  _likes_  you.” At this, Penny shot an appraising glance at her son.   
  
“Pretty wise for a seven-year-old,” she quipped, and Evan smiled, nudging a sandy curl off his forehead. She returned that smile, then turned her attention back to dinner. She hadn’t so much as chopped a single carrot before Evan beckoned.  
  
“Mum, I thought you said unicorns were real.” Once again, Penny turned, to watch Evan colour in a diagram for one of his science classes. His pencil crayon swished back and forth in the air as he jerked the business end back and forth over the paper. It only took that glance for her to decide that making dinner as boring, and she picked up her wand from the counter next to the sink, flicking it at the knife, which then began to chop veggies for her.  
  
“They are,” she assured him, moving to the kitchen table to sit across from him. On her way past Lydia, Zelda reached out a paw, as if to say  _“Save meeeee.”_  Taking pity on the cat, Penny said to her daughter, “Hey, go get your hair brush and I’ll do a French braid for you.” Lydia, who had been in love with French braids pretty much since she’d been expelled from the womb, immediately released the cat and scampered off to her bedroom.  
  
“If unicorns are real,” Evan continued once he was sure he had his mother’s attention, “then how come the song says they all died?” Ugh, it really was a morbid song. She probably should have chosen something more upbeat to sing to her children. But the song was bouncy, and it  _sounded_  upbeat... until you listened to the lyrics.  
  
As she contemplated her answer, Penny smoothed her shirt over her swollen stomach when she felt a sharp kick there, and rubbed soothing circles over that spot.  _Not now, I’m trying to talk to your brother,_  she scolded her fetus.  
  
“Well, Evan,” she started. She cast a glance over her shoulder, noting that the knife had finished its chopping, and so she waved her wand again to levitate the carrots into the steamer. “This song was written by muggles, and muggles never see unicorns.”  
  
“Why not?” He’d stopped his colouring to watch her now as she added some brown sugar to the steamer on top of the carrots. Evan had always gotten a kick out of watching her do magic. With a smile, she shot a couple of bubbles at him from the tip of her wand, and then laid it aside. He laughed as he gently prodded one with the tip of his pencil crayon and watched it erupt in mid-air.  
  
Penny took up one of those pencil crayons herself - the yellow one - and began colouring in the beak on one of Evan’s crows. “Because unicorns are magical creatures, so they stay where only magical people can find them. And if a muggle does accidentally catch a glimpse of a unicorn, then the Ministry of Magic swoops in and wipes their memory.”  
  
Evan gaped melodramatically. “So they forget everything? Even  _who they are?_ ”  
  
“No,” she assured him with a laugh. “They only wipe memories enough to change the memory of the magic part, so they forget they saw it and go on like normal.” Penny had finished colouring her third beak when Lydia returned with Penny’s boar’s hair brush. “Okay, sit,” she said, taking the brush from her daughter and laying aside her pencil crayon. Lydia dropped to the floor between Penny’s knees and Penny gathered up the thick, red waves and began to carefully brush through them.  
  
“Well, how come muggles aren’t allowed to know about unicorns?”  
  
“Uh...” She set her brush down on the table and began to separate Lydia’s hair into segments. “Becaaauuuse -” One of these days Evan was going to figure out Penny had no idea what she was talking about. “Okay, you know how when Daddy buys me candy on special occasions, I save it up and only eat a bit at a time? And then when there’s not much left, I won’t share it with you and you get all mad?” She glanced briefly away from Lydia’s hair to make sure Evan was nodding. “Well, it’s sort of like that. There aren’t very many unicorns left, so we can’t share them with people. Make sense?”  
  
“Oh! Yeah.” As if mulling over this information, he turned thoughtfully back to his picture and began to colour in the trunk of a tree. Then—“Who’s Noah?”  
  
Oh, Christ. “He’s just a guy in a book.” Had she and Parker ever mentioned the Bible to their kids? She had no idea.  
  
“Is it a book the muggles made up to say why they can’t find unicorns?”  
  
“Yes,” she said quickly. “That’s it exactly.”  
  
As if on cue, there was a  _crack_  near the front door, and the sound of mad barking from their dog Link signaled Parker’s arrival. Evan immediately bolted off his chair and tore into the entryway to greet his father. Lydia tried, but Penny had a handful of her hair, so she couldn’t go far. “Sit still,” she scolded, a smile in her voice. “Your father will still be here when I’m finished with your hair.”  
  
“But --”  
  
“Hey.” Parker appeared at the edge of the kitchen, a tired smile on his face.  
  
“Hey,” Penny greeted. As usual, just the sight of him drained the tension right out of her. He crossed the kitchen to lay a lingering kiss on her lips, which he only broke when Lydia started tugging on his pant leg.   
  
There was a tramping in the hall as Evan tore past on the way to his bedroom, half a chocolate frog crammed into his mouth. Penny stared for a moment at the spot where her son used to be, gaping, and then turned her disbelieving gaze back to her husband, who was kneeling in front of her daughter and sticking a lemon drop into her mouth.   
  
“Oh, sure,” she blurted. “Give them sugar three hours before bed.” And one hour before dinner! Parker, apparently unconcerned with her protests, just smiled and kissed her again.  
  
“I brought you some, too,” he said, producing a chocoball and popping it between her lips.   
  
She eyed him warily as she chewed. “Well. I guess that’s okay then. Now go check on the chicken.”


End file.
